Youths' murder convictions quashed

Dale Robertson, 18, died after he was stabbed in the chest during an explosion of youth violence outside a house party in Rokeby Drive, Parson Cross, in September 2008.

Last year, Seaon Thompson, 17, of Lydgate Lane, Crookes, and Reece Mendez, 19, of Yew Greave Crescent, Ecclesfield, were convicted of murder after a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

The identity of the knife-wielder has never been established, but the jury found the pair guilty on grounds of participation in a joint enterprise to cause serious harm.

However, allowing the pair's appeals, Lord Justice Toulson ruled that the trial judge had failed to give the jury "sufficiently clear and balanced" directions on the central issue of whether the pair could be guilty as "secondary parties" to murder.

Mr Mendez, who had no inkling of the presence of a knife in the melee, had his murder conviction replaced by one for violent disorder and his life sentence by a two-year youth custody term.

Due to the amount of time he has already spent in custody, the appeal judges heard that he will now be released. However, in Thompson's case, the court ordered a retrial.